Backing out of the Outback
by ChrissieJoy
Summary: A story for those of you who miss the good old days. Set in current time but with a twist of series 12-14 about it. What happens when a few certain people realise Holby is where they should have been all along? Lets live in the past for a while!
1. Old Haunts

This is quite an unusual fiction, anyone who has been a Casualty fan for over ten years should recognise all characters involved and I hope you are as happy for them to be here as I would be! The thing that makes it so different though is that it is set in current time (2013) but has a lot of older regulars still in it, along with Charlie who is still there for real (Eve- not working at holby any more but still a big part of the staffs social life, Duffy- moved back to holby and regaining her post after realising her life was there, Max- again; not working there but still keeps in contact with Charlie and Duffy, Sunny- has taken his nurse training and working in a+e and Sam- moved back from Cornwall in 2003 and is now nursing consultant and finally Amy- who now that Milo is 14 is getting her career back on track and is both receptionist and patient liaison in a+e) sorry if that will confuse you, but if not and you like the idea too...read on :)

"How long now?" came an impatient voice from the back of the car,

Laney; 13, had been pretty persistent in asking her mother _'are we there yet?'_, _'How long will we be?', 'What time do you think we will get there?'_, which had just made the almost 2 day journey seem even longer for everyone. Along with a 4 year old who drank too much juice and consequently needed to make bathroom stops every hour and a crying 1 year old the 21 questions could have been gone without.

"Not long" her mum answered, flatly.

"You said that 2 hours ago and..." the teenager started to argue, but the 36 year old wouldn't back down.

"AND...I will keep saying that until I know for sure how long it will take us to get through all of this traffic and find the house. Read your magazine" she added.

The two women sat in the front seat; one blonde and blue eyes the other had dark hair, dark eyes and a brilliant tan, and three kids had been sat in the same car for hours now, been travelling for what seemed like a life time and all they wanted to do was sleep. With the horrid weather of a confused mid May and the traffic load of the 6 o'clock rush hour they would give anything to be in doors with a cup of tea and the tv playing in the background. A far cry from what they would have wanted when they were in this part of the country last! 1999, young, free, single and life was one big party! Well most of the time. The best friends had lived together back then as well, when things were simple and life hadn't taught them so much. They were happy now, don't get me wrong but the past year had shown the two of them that they were fighting a losing battle trying to make life work in a different country and when they finally sat down and really spoke about it, they realised the last time they had laughed, I mean really laughed until they cried or had any sort of real fun was when they were in Holby, Bristol.

It sounded strange to them when they had first come to their decision. There they were with sun, sea, sand all around them and a decent wage to keep them going and all they wanted was their poky 2 bedroom flat on Broadmead street with a gammy toilet flush and heating that never seemed to work because that was when they were happiest! The two nurses would even be willing to take that minimum wage pay cheque in as long as they were back there.

Just as the car had gone into silence and the blonde haired nurse had drifted into her daydream of the good days, she was yanked straight back out again by the high pitch sound of little Mia crying again. She cried a lot these days, they didn't think there was any wonder seeing the uprooting and leaving to somewhere she didn't recognise. It was colder her in England; much colder and all three of the younger girl had already caught a cold. They'd grown up in the sun! Their little noses and throats weren't use to all this rain and chill.

The darker haired nurse; sat in the passenger seat swivelled in her seat and bent round to hush the 1 year old and pulled some funny faces just for good measure which sent not only little Mia but the 4 year old sat next to her into hysterics!

"I need the toilet." Laney moaned, knowing that by now her constant whining was only going to put the adults in a bad mood, but carried on regardless...it was just something to fill the time now.

"Can you hold it for 15 minutes?" her mum questioned, giving her a hopeful glare through the mirror. Laney's eyes lit up as if by magic.

"Does that mean we're nearly there?!" she chirped, the blonde woman gave her friend a sideways look and grin that only the two of them understood. Excitement...'We're home' she thought.


	2. Truth will out

"Tea? Or something stronger?" Chloe asked her best mate as she returned from the kitchen. This 4 bedroom house was a long way from their old flat down the road but they were both more wealthy and able to afford something comfortable with fully working utilities now.

"Shhh" Tina hushed her, rushing down the stairs and passed the sturdy oak railings. "I think she's finally asleep" she beamed and with that they stopped for a moment to take it all in, they were finally home! Both women smiled widely and bounced into a tight hug congratulating one another. "Something stronger" she answered her friends question in a quieter voice once they had let each other go then followed Chloe back into their shiny black marble filled kitchen.

"Did you really think we could do this? When we first talked about it I mean? Didn't you just think it was a pipe dream that we could dream about but would never actually happen?" The dark haired 36 year old mused as the two of them nursed their glasses of red wine, all cosied up on the brown leather sofas.

"Did you" Tina replied with another question and watched Chloe's mind work and knew that was a yes without her having to say it. "For a while I thought I was just being stupid, I wanted us to get back to this; more than anything in the world! I thought it would be difficult, harder than it actually was really, but once Sean and I actually separated I knew that coming back here was my only option. I knew from the start that this was what I had to do, the question in my head wasn't would I actually do it it was would I manage to bring my girls with me...you know?"

Chloe didn't have to reply, just nodded a little and carried on sipping at her wine. "But we're here now eh?" Tina grinned. "That's what matters"

When Tina left Holby 13 year ago she never thought that life would take a turn as dramatic as this. She was happy, had Sean, had a new life and then soon after they moved to the Outback Tina discovered she was pregnant. Life couldn't have been better back then, right at that moment she was exactly how she wanted to be. Sad thing was it only took 6 months for her and Sean to develop differences in opinion. When Laney was born there was something different about her; they'd sat together night after night thinking about what their beautiful little girl would look like- olive skin, dark wavy locks and more than likely those deep brown eyes that she would of course inherit from Sean. Not long after she was born though they both came to realise that the blonde hair and blue eyes weren't just going to change as she got a little older as the midwife had said..._'She's still new! Babies are always born with blue eyes and 9 times out of ten their hair falls out after a few weeks, grows back a completely different colour you know' _the plump lady with a strong aussie accent had told them matter of factly. The blue eyes they had put down to Tina's being so wonderfully sky coloured that little Laney was bound to take after her-strong genes! She was gorgeous all the same, just like a tiny Tina and as she grew older, into a girl rather than a baby she became more and more like her mother; in more ways than just her looks! A sense of humour that could get a room full of people in stitches and a ladylike attitude to taking care of herself made anyone know whose daughter she was.

It always played on Seans mind though, that she could at least have his jaw line, or even a slight wave in her hair...nothing. His insecurities only grew when their next daughter Evie was born. Unlike her bog sister little Evie was the spit of her dad! Dark curly hair and wonderful chocolatey eyes. She did have her mums nose too and a cute grin that could only come from Tina. A perfect mix of the two of them, but Sean couldn't listen to Tina when she said _'now we have one that looks like me and one that looks like you', _he didn't see it like that. No matter what anyone said, Laney wasn't his. It was then that Chloe had come to live in Australia with her friend; Chloe's boyfriend of 7 years had been arrested for crimes he'd committed over a lifetime. Word had been that if he went back to Britain he would be arrested there and then, it only took one time! They had gone to Wales to see Chloe's aunt for a weekend, she wasn't well and the young nurse needed to see her before it was too late. The day they got back in the UK they were both taken in for questioning and after a long few days of Chloe thinking she was going to prison for helping a prisoner escape Jason swore on the bible that he had arranged it, done it all and Chloe had nothing to do with it. Because she had no previous criminal record other than drunk and disorderly back when she was 19 they took it that she had been covering for him and not the other way around as the case were. She was given a formal warning and told she is not to associate with any of Jason's gang member. Jason was given 5 years for various crimes. It was then that Tina had called to tell her everything that was going on between her and Sean and a week later Chloe went to stay with her; _stay_ being the key word- she never left!


	3. A new day

That evening the two now middle aged women laughed like they hadn't done in years! Reminiscing stories of way back when and going over things that years ago they had thought were so serious and now seem so small and unimportant. The only thing that had made them stop and really think was when Chloe had stupidly talked about her night with Sean, but they had lived together for so long now that even that whole débâcle just seemed to flow away over their heads. They had sat and talked one time over 2 years ago about how if Chloe had kept the baby then he or she would be older than Laney now and they even talked about what the child may have looked like. That conversation had made them both let the situation go and realise that they were truly on an even playing field. Tina may have been betrayed and thought she had lost the man she loved but Chloe had had to lose her child. Whether she had made that choice herself or not she still had to live for the rest of her life wondering what life could have been had she have kept it. That to Tina made her respect Chloe and forgive her for her mistake.

The next morning; bright and early as a group of children always demand Tina and Chloe found themselves rushing around. Not in a stressed '_I'm late for work_' way but wanting today to go to plan. So far they had managed pretty well upping sticks and hauling their whole lives back to England but today was what they saw as the most important part. Today they got to go back for real!

"How did he sound?" Chloe asked her friend the moment the blonde put the phone down.

"He sounded excited! Said that they're all on shift today and we should go earlier rather than later so we can arrange something for this evening." Tina explained. She had been on the phone to Sunny, who had come back to Holby to do his nurses training and was now working in A+E with the gang. Tina had been surprised when he had told her how many old faces had done just what she is doing now and decided Holby was the place they should be. Amy had come back now that Milo was in secondary school and was working in patient liaison, Sam and Duffy had both regained their posts after other leaving, but the thing that shocked Tina the most was the fact Charlie had never left! Still there after all this time!

"Laney, sweetheart have you got your pen?" Tina called up the stairs between scuttling around trying to get things together. Laney's 'pen' was what they had called her insulin from early on. Laney was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was just 7, Tina or Sean use to administer her injections until one day when she was 11 she told them in a rather matter-of-fact manner '_I'm not a baby any more, I can give myself the pen! I'm going to be a nurse you know! Just like you mummy" _and since then, after watching her do it a few times for safety's sake they let her do it herself. It was around that time too that they started calling it her 'pen' rather than 'the injection' or 'her insulin'. She didn't want to feel the odd one out in school and felt quite shown up when Sean had asked her if she had her medication one day in front of her school friend. So they called it her pen, because what is more normal to a group of school children than a pen? Nothing.

"Obviously" she replied as she emerged from her room and began down the solid pine stairs.

"Okay, Chloe shall we eat first or after?" she turned to her friend and got a typical Chloe look in return.

"You're panicking" she told her and folded her arms. Tina stopped for a moment, she was right; she was panicking and she wasn't sure why. All of the people she would be seeing today were her friends! People who knew her and would have missed her, so there was no need at all to be nervous. She should be excited! "When do you ever ask when we are going to eat?" the shorter of the two added before scooping up a toddling Mia who had been stood at her feet for a while with her arms outstretched.

"I don't, but you do!" she laughed, raising her eyebrows.

"Well I wasn't the one that asked was I?" she laughed back at her and went through to the living room.

"Right, Evie. Coat on" she told the 4 year and grabbed a shiny pink puffy style coat from the back of the sofa and threw it in the child's direction. The little girl did as she was told and after a short dispute on whether Laney would or wouldn't be too cold without her jacket, Tina won and they headed out to the car.


End file.
